Fantasy Football Mock Draft, 12-team PPR: Calvin Ridley starts WR run

New fantasy football mock draft for the 2021 season in a 12-team PPR league starting with the No. 5 pick and loading up on wide receivers early.

Fantasy football draft season can be stressful. Managers who get invested in one, two, eight, nine or 10 leagues every year have a lot to consider from the moment they go into the draft to select their teams. And we all know that, especially in fantasy football, the best-laid plans can go awry once you and your league-mates get on the clock.

That’s why participating and, almost more importantly, dissecting various fantasy football mock drafts is valuable for any managers trying to prepare for their drafts. Having said that, it does seem less useful if one analyst is constructing a fantasy football mock draft themselves. After all, that’s going to be heavily weighted on their opinions.

So instead of doing that, I participated in a mock on Fantasy Football Calculator — this time for a 12-team PPR league with the fifth pick — to not only offer analysis on what I would do in that spot but to also see what other fantasy managers are doing and how they’re approaching. After all, you’re more than likely drafting with the general public, just as was the case in this mock draft.

With that out of the way, we’re going round-by-round through this recent fantasy football mock draft to see what team we can end up with. Let’s start with the first-round picks.

Note: All stats are courtesy of Pro Football Reference and all fantasy scoring is via ESPN Fantasy.

Fantasy Football Mock Draft 2021: Round 1

• Team 1 (1.01): Christian McCaffrey, RB, CAR
• Team 2 (1.02): Dalvin Cook, RB, MIN
• Team 3 (1.03): Alvin Kamara, RB, NO
• Team 4 (1.04): Davante Adams, WR, GB
• Team 5* (1.05): Ezekiel Elliott, RB, DAL
• Team 6 (1.06): Derrick Henry, RB, TEN
• Team 7 (1.07): Travis Kelce, TE, KC
• Team 8 (1.08): Nick Chubb, RB, CLE
• Team 9 (1.09): Aaron Jones, RB, GB
• Team 10 (1.10): Austin Ekeler, RB, LAC
• Team 11 (1.11): Tyreek Hill, WR, KC
• Team 12 (1.12): Saquon Barkley, RB, NYG

The first three picks of the mock draft went according to plan but it was a bit surprising to see Davante Adams come off the board with the No. 4 pick. But considering that I had the fifth selection, I certainly wasn’t upset about it.

Ezekiel Elliott is the obvious RB4 to me in PPR leagues this season. Yes, I understand that he’s coming off the worst year of his career with the Cowboys. But let’s not forget that he was also weathering the season with a shell of the offensive line that he’s normally had in Dallas in addition to playing without Dak Prescott.

Not only are those two factors different for the 2021 season but Zeke himself looks better. He showed up to training camp looking in the best shape he’s been in since his rookie season and that should help him return to being a more explosive playmaker, especially in the passing game.

Some consideration was given to Derrick Henry but the lack of pass-catching in a PPR league was too much. Also, if you’re wondering if the public is worried about Saquon Barkley’s help, slipping to RB9 at the last pick of the first round should give you a good idea.